Blast-off: 6 recent missile advances

Missiles have been prominent in the news with India’s successful test, North Korea’s failed one, and much talk of missile defense systems in Europe and the Persian Gulf. Here are six recent noteworthy missile-technology advances.

3. South Korea’s Hyunmoo

In the aftermath of the North Korean test, South Korea announced yesterday that it was deploying a new cruise missile capable of striking anywhere in the North. The new missile, which the military did not name but experts say is known as the Hyunmoo, has a range of 930 miles and consists of entirely homegrown technology, according to Voice of America.

The new cruise missile, which the South Korean military introduced with video of successful firing tests, makes a strong contrast with the North’s earlier failure.  The timing of the announcement is not accidental; The New York Times reports that South Korean officials said it was meant to be a message to the North that Seoul is not intimidated by Pyongyang’s recent saber-rattling.

Voice of America notes that South Korea is bound by treaty with the US to not deploy ballistic missiles with a range of more than 180 miles. But cruise missiles, which travel more slowly and close to the ground, are exempted from the treaty. 

3 of 6

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.